Low-power, personal area networks such as ZigBee, Z-Wave, Insteon, JenNet-IP, X10 or similar are becoming increasingly prevalent. Appliances, lighting, heating and cooling, security and monitoring systems, entertainment systems, communications, lawn sprinklers, etc., now include microprocessors and wireless communication devices to allow for wireless connection to a home network. Controls for these devices can reside in smartphones, PDAs, laptop computers, desktop computers or other devices on which a user-friendly software control interface may exists or controls may reside in a network cloud.
Several different ways to organize and configure these home networks exist. Existing technologies can associate devices into groups based on the ability to communicate using visible light, ultrasound, infrared light, radio frequency and other communications technologies, thereby enabling the devices to be organized into clusters based on the confined space in which they reside, as well as the kind of devices they represent. Integrating a microprocessor into the individual devices allows the devices to receive programming that enables a high degree of flexibility for the user. The large number of available configurations, however, can overwhelm the typical user. In fact, many of the network technologies for home networks are relatively complicated and difficult for the consumer to use. Adding, authenticating and configuring new devices may involve the hiring of a trained technician to carry out the installation.
As the costs of microprocessor, memory, displays, radio transmitters and receivers and line of sight communications decrease, however, the cost of adding these capabilities to inexpensive and even disposable consumer products becomes possible. The increase of capabilities and the number of networked home devices may lead to a new set of challenges for the consumers and the home networks.